Black Pride celebration features fun, community building

Thousands of Black LGBTQIA+ people and their allies came to Atlanta over the past week to celebrate, learn and share experiences, with events culminating in festivities at Piedmont Park over the weekend.

The Atlanta Black Pride Weekend has long attracted thousands of celebrants each year, capped by the Pure Heat Community Festival, which has been in operation since 2012. But this year’s weekend saw even more enthusiasm with the addition of Global Black Pride 2024, the first time that event has been held in the U.S.

While fun was high on the agenda, serious topics such as mental health in the Black gay community, public safety, transgender rights, HIV prevention and treatment were also part of the event.